Collections: Asian Art: Bodhisattva Guanyin

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Bodhisattva Guanyin

The bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin in Chinese, played a crucial role as the protector of the semi-independent Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms (flourished A.D. 649–1253) in present-day Yunnan Province. The creation of this type of protective icon representing Azuoye Guanyin, the Ajaya, or all-victorious, Avalokitesvara, is depicted in the mid-tenth-century handscroll Illustrated History of Nanzhao, which details the miraculous introduction of Buddhism into Yunnan by an Indian monk, himself believed to be an incarnation of the bodhisattva. Significantly, the sculpture displays strong stylistic ties to images from Southeast Asia and India but retains a Chinese flavor in its relatively abstract, linear style.

Medium: Cast bronze, traces of gilding
Place Made: Yunnan, China
Dates: 11th-12th century
Period: Dali Kingdom
Dimensions: 18 7/8 x 4 1/2 x 3 in. (47.9 x 11.4 x 7.6cm) (show scale)
Collections:Asian Art
Museum Location: This item is not on view
Accession Number: 1995.48
Credit Line: Gift of the Asian Art Council
Rights Statement: Creative Commons-BY
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Caption: Bodhisattva Guanyin, 11th-12th century. Cast bronze, traces of gilding, 18 7/8 x 4 1/2 x 3 in. (47.9 x 11.4 x 7.6cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Asian Art Council, 1995.48. Creative Commons-BY
Image: overall, 1995.48_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don't yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

Catalogue Description: This cast bronze image of Guanyin, the God of Mercy, (Sanskrit: the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara), is one of a small group of such figures worshipped as the incarnation of the Indian monk who brought Buddhism to the semi-independent kingdom of Dali (fl. A.D. 649-1253), located in the present-day province of Yunnan, in south-central China. The Bodhisattva is shown standing barefoot, with the right hand raised in the vitarka-mudra and the left extended in the varada-mudra. The elaborate, finely engraved coiffure is held by braids or twisted cords that secure an image of the Buddha Amitabha above the crown which rests on the figure's forehead. The face is finely sculpted with a serene expression, long undulating eyes, a flattened nose and pursed lips. The earlobes are pierced, decorated with heavy earrings, and extend to the shoulders. The neck is formed of three delicate folds of flesh and is surrounded with a wide, decorated necklace secured with a loosely knotted cord at the back. The figure wears elaborate armbands on the upper part of each arm and a string of beads on the right wrist. The high, slender waist is accented with a belt decorated with eight-petaled floral bosses. The long pleated skirt is secured with an elaborate sash knotted at the front and on the hips, and hands in stylized folds to the figure's ankles. Vertical pleats descend on both sides and between the figure's legs. The fabric of the skirt clings to the figure and forms a pattern of horizontal folds across the legs. On the relatively undecorated back of the figure are two rectangular openings, one between the shoulders and one below the waistband. (The Chinese Porcelain Company notes that these openings typically held items of devotion.) Two prongs below the bare feet secure the image on a modern black laminate-covered display base, which measures 3 1/2 in high x 6 1/8 wide x 4 3/8 in. deep. Condition: The figure is generally intact. The surface is relatively clean, and the face is particularly well polished. On the top of the head there is an old, small hole. There are traces of gilding on the entire suface of the figure, especially around the waist, the nechlace, neck, and head of the figure. In addition there are traces of an unidentified black substance on the surface, especially on the arms and chest and in the pleats of the skirt. Of the two openings in the back, the lower one is tightly sealed with bronze and the upper one is more loosely closed with an unidentified red-brown substance.
Record Completeness: Best (83%)
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Avalokiteshvara [x]		Yunnan [x]
Guanyin [x]		Kuan [x]
Yin [x]		Guan [x]
bronze [x]		statue [x]
sculpture [x]		Asian [x]
China [x]		buddhism [x]
bodhisattva [x]

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LFAP (3)
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